Film Student Pursues (Stalks) Morgan Freeman in Hope That He Will Narrate His Documentary

When all else fails, the only thing left to do is… stalk Morgan Freeman?

Canadian college student Ian MacDougall seems to think so.

In April of 2012, MacDougall discovered that he lost a year’s worth of editing on his project for a film class at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia because of a hard drive crash. Even worse, this happened a week before the project was set to screen. In a panic, MacDougall decided to instead go with a rejected project once thought up by friend MacKenzie Warner: to make a documentary about trying to get Morgan Freeman to narrate their documentary, which would be about… trying to get Morgan Freeman to narrate their documentary, of course.

With camera in-hand MacDougall and Warner traveled to Clarksdale, Mississippi when they discovered Freeman was set to appear as the master of ceremonies at a blues concert there, though they didn’t manage to meet Freeman. They tried to find Freeman the next day but were also unsuccessful. However, they did meet Freeman’s business partner, who got Freeman on the phone. The Oscar winner, who is noted for his distinctive voice and narration in films like March of the Penguins, said that if they wanted him to narrate a documentary they would have to speak with his agent. They quickly turned the footage into a twenty-minute short to submit for MacDougall’s assignment (which was ultimately not accepted by the professor).

But MacDougall didn’t want to leave it at that. Since Freeman did suggest that they talk to his agent, three days later MacDougall traveled to Los Angeles to do just that. Though he eventually spoke with Freeman’s agent by phone, the agent thought of the project as little more than a publicity stunt.

When he reached that point, MacDougall says, “I didn’t feel like we were really overstepping our boundaries, but I guess I was questioning the morality of it in pursuing this guy if he doesn’t want to be pursued.” Nonetheless, the agent did agree to view the film once MacDougall finishes turning it into a feature-length documentary, which MacDougall plans to do, and perhaps Freeman might end up doing the narration after all.

And to think that all those judges told me stalking people wouldn’t get me anywhere but prison! They must have different laws about that in Canada.